A Conversation with Amanda Hesser

The renowned food writer on her latest book, The Essential New York Times CookbookBy Joanne Camas

W
hen one thinks about American cooking bibles, two titles come to mind: The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and The Joy of Cooking. One that is sure to join this august list is The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century. Containing more than 1,000 of the newspaper's best recipes, dating back to the 1850s, the collection features favorite creations from masters such as Craig Claiborne (who himself compiled the first New York Times Cookbook, originally published in 1961) and Alice Waters alongside dishes from amateur chefs such as Aunt Addie and Bob the Sea Cook.

Times food writer and editor Amanda Hesser signed on for the formidable task of requesting readers' favorite recipes from the newspaper. She received a whopping 6,000 suggestions, tested and tasted a quarter of those, and then selected the top 1,000-plus. "This book, I hope, will serve as a monument to all the great food writers, home cooks, and chefs that have made the Times' food sections a must-read for more than a century and strongly shaped the way we eat," she writes.

Be warned: Hesser lists three ways not to use the book: for academic research, as a path to losing weight, or as a doorstop. Instead, she recommends using it for a trip down memory lane and a "gateway to culinary adventure." Failing that, put it into service as "a weight for pressing terrines—its size and heft are just right," she notes.

We caught up with Hesser and delved into the process of creating this massive tome.

Epicurious: This was a mammoth task. How long did it take? Did you retest every recipe?

Amanda Hesser: It took six years, with four or five years of recipe testing and one to two years of writing. I was basically in book hibernation for that period. I (along with my business partner, Merrill Stubbs) tested 1,400 recipes. The book contains just over 1,000. I tested every recipe, because I needed to know not only that it was a great recipe and deserving of being in the book but what was interesting about the recipe. I wanted to be able to personally recommend every recipe and be able to tell the reader what to look out for, what makes the recipes noteworthyI wanted to be their personal guide through the vast and wonderful archive. Over the years, there were a number of recipes that I made again and againlike Forget-It Meringue Torte, Butternut Squash and Cider Soup, and Stewed Fennel.

Epi: When looking at recipes from over a century ago, what differences and what
parallels did you find?

AH: We tend to layer many more flavors and techniques into dishes these dayswe add herbs and spices, we sear meats before braising them, we add a crisp element to a tender cake. Older recipes were more one-dimensional. That doesn't mean they're boring, but certainly there's an expectation of complexity today. The similarities are that people have always loved dessertsand desserts of all kinds. Pies, bread puddings, sweet breads, cookies, cakes, you name it!

Epi: Were there any big surprises for you in the way food and tastes have changed over the years?

AH: I don't know if there were any surprises, but we've certainly come to like foods with lots of flavor, and more recently, you see recipes that include all the flavor elementssweet, salty, sour, bitterand umami. And while we've been interested in Asian foods for a long time, we're still struggling to embrace them in the home kitchen.

Epi: How has The New York Times' food section helped influence food culture in this country?

AH: The New York Times' food section has really worked as a distilling mechanism for the past 150 years; [Times writers] have covered all the major food news, trends, and noteworthy recipes, and their influence has been in highlighting the changes and developments that the paper has seen as most important. It's one particular view of the world, but it's one that people have paid attention to.

Epi: Which from the book will be the "most stained" recipes in your kitchen?

AH: Pierre Franeyhis recipes hold up really well. He was extremely precise, so he'd never call for "1 tomato, chopped"instead he'd call for "1 cup diced (1/4-inch dice) tomato," so you can count on his recipes working. Yet his recipes felt genuine and personal, and he had a knack for understanding home cooks' tolerance for complexity. He would push readers to try new things without frustrating them.

Epi: Food has held family and friends together at the table through the generations. Do you think we're losing that primitive connection in this high-tech age?

AH: I don'tI'm bullish on our food and family ties. We may not have the Cleaver family–style dinners anymore, but I think the growing interest in food has gotten more people in the kitchen, sharing the cooking, and eating together. They may not be eating together at homethey may instead be out at a food truck or at a favorite restaurantbut they're still eating together, and they have a shared interest in eating well.

What I hope the book will do is encourage people to try out dishes they haven't had before or haven't had in a few decades. I hope they'll see it as a source of both good memoriesChicken Paprikash! Tiramisu!and discoveryMarmitako! Transparent Pudding!

Epi: Do you think home cooks are trying to be too sophisticated these days, watching the chef shows and being caught up in the celebrity food culture?

AH: Not at all! I think home cooks are finally feeling liberated. The influence from chefs has been terrificI think it's allowed people to see that cooking isn't always perfect and that while there is risk, there are also ample rewards. The other great thing that's happening is that because people are curious about food of all kinds, they're becoming really knowledgeable, and this, in turn, is translating to the kitchen. People are becoming barbecue experts, coffee aficionados, and master bakers.

Epi: Did you add any of your own family recipes?

AH: I could only add family recipes that have been published in the Timesand among these I selected just those that received a strong reader response, like my mother's Chocolate Dump-It Cake.

Epi: You have young twins. Do they have a favorite recipe from the book?

AH: Beets in Lime Cream, Broccoli Puree with Ginger, and pretty much any of the 200-plus desserts!

Epi: What's your next project, or are you taking a break?

AH: Merrill Stubbs and I are very focused on building Food52, which was inspired by our work on the book. The site has been growing quickly, and we have a lot in the works! Our first Food52 cookbook will be published in spring 2011. And in January, I'm starting a new food column for The New York Times Magazine. So, taking a break? No. I get bored easily.

Amanda Hesser has been a food writer and editor at The New York Times for more than a decade. She is the author of Cooking for Mr. Latte and The Cook and the Gardener and the editor of the essay collection Eat, Memory. Hesser is also the cofounder of Food52.